The invention relates in general to munitions and in particular to non-lethal munitions.
Hostile or rioting crowds are not easily cleared by single shot non-lethal rounds. Current 40 mm non-lethal rounds such as the M1029 crowd control and the M1006 “sponge grenade” are single shot rounds. People that have been shot may have time to recover or protect themselves between shots. Continuous fire coverage with non-lethal projectiles can move or deter crowds from an area, allow or prevent access to an area or prevent the crowd from returning hostile action.
The present 40 mm non-lethal rapid fire round is complicated, expensive, unreliable and functions the weapon poorly. The present round is fired from a grenade machine gun and uses a telescoping rear case to power the gun. Conventional lethal ammunition does not function in this manner. The way the present round powers the weapon has created many problems. Thus, a need exists for a non-lethal round that utilizes a standard lethal case and that operates the weapon in the same manner as lethal ammunition.